1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and an information processing method and, in particular, to an information processing apparatus and an information processing method for incorporating a software encoder and a software decoder in a computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 9-261633 discloses an encoder for encoding image data. The encoder may be implemented not only in hardware but also in a software computer program. In the software encoder that is implemented in a software computer program, the program is loaded onto a personal computer, for example, and each process contained in the program is executed by a central processing unit (CPU) of the computer. Encoded image data, encoding data generated in the process of encoding, and a variety of data generated in the process of encoding are stored on a random-access memory (RAM) as necessary.